Department of Justice

BILLINGS — A Livingston man who admitted to possessing a stolen firearm after a traffic stop led to his arrest was sentenced today to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leif M. Johnson said.

Orville James McIntire, 21, pleaded guilty in October 2021 to possession of a stolen firearm.

U.S. District Judge Susan P. Watters presided.

In court documents, the government alleged that on Jan. 31, 2020, a Park County Sheriff’s deputy made a traffic stop near Livingston of a Cadillac Deville that had been reported stolen. The deputy saw on the front passenger seat a firearm case that contained a Zastava M70 semi-automatic 9 mm pistol, with a loaded magazine and a round in the chamber. McIntire was in the rear passenger seat and the only other occupant of the vehicle. Officers obtained a search warrant for the vehicle. The driver told officers he had picked up McIntire from a residence so the two could go to Butte to get drugs. The driver further said McIntire entered the vehicle with a backpack and the gun case and sat in the front seat. When law enforcement began following the vehicle, McIntire became nervous, jumped in the back seat and told the driver to stop so he could run from the car. Investigators learned from an individual that McIntire had stolen his Zastava 9mm semi-automatic pistol in January 2020.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Karla E. Painter prosecuted the case, which was investigated by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Missouri River Drug Task Force and the Livingston Police Department.

This case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, a U.S. Department of Justice initiative to reduce violent crime. Through PSN, federal, tribal, state and local law enforcement partners in Montana focus on violent crime driven by methamphetamine trafficking, armed robbers, firearms offenses and violent offenders with outstanding warrants.